The Swedish Academy of Comic Art was founded in December 1965, in connection with Sweden’s first exhibition of comics art, “Seriernas Fantastiska Värld”, at Galleri Karlsson in Stockholm. The initiative for both the Academy and the exhibition was taken by the young journalist Sture Hegerfors.

Bo Karlsson and Sture Hegerfors in 1965.

At this time almost all cultural workers, teachers, psychologists and sociologists disliked comics. The Swedish Academy of Comic Art, with eighteen elected members, was established to bring an end to the one-sided criticism. In order to increase the awareness of high quality comics in Sweden and other countries of the world the Academy decided to award two Adamson statuettes each year.